Corporate Wellness Watch: First Quarter 2010
Resolve to Help Employees Kick the Tobacco Habit in 2010
Fitness Works at Work Corporate Health and Fitness News
CDC's LEAN Works!
Research Findings on Calorie Labeling of Cafeteria Food
Resolve to Help Employees Kick the Tobacco Habit in 2010
The first of January comes along every year and with it usually comes resolve for many of us to adopt a new healthy behavior or to stop an unhealthy habit. For a smoker, kicking a tobacco habit is a resolution that has the most impact on living a healthy life. It is estimated that over 34 million people want to stop smoking. Most people who quit smoking for good have tried several times before they are successful.
As an employer, lowering the incident of tobacco use among employees is a resolution to keep throughout the year. It is estimated that a smoker costs $3,561 a year in direct medical costs and lost productivity due to smoking-related illness, according to the Center for Disease Control1. Making sure that your organization has a comprehensive, on-going smoking cessation program that address smokers at all levels of their readiness to stop is an important goal. Here are some implementation ideas:
- Make your workplace smoke-free and offer programs that support good nutrition and exercise.
- Communicate to employees the importance of quitting and your organization's support in their quitting.
- Make sure your health plan offers effective treatment for smoking cessation including online and telephonic support, and covers pharmacotherapy.
- Disseminate the American Lung Association and American Cancer Society smoking cessation information on a regular basis.
- Offer a quarterly "Are you Thinking of Quitting" information session led by a trained tobacco cessation specialist who outlines the latest pharmacotherapy, nicotine replacement aids and support ideas.
- Offer a variety of on-site programs such as hypnosis, meditation and stress workshops that help people to quit.
- Run on-site smoking cessation clinics periodically and allow relapsed smokers to join the group again.
- Publicize local hospital and clinic programs.
- Offer incentives for healthy behaviors.
Taking steps to good health shouldn't be something to focus on solely in January but an ongoing process over the course of the year. As an employer, when employees successfully make healthy behavioral changes, whatever time of year, it is good for business. They lead to lower health care costs, better on-the-job-performance and less absenteeism. Helping employees who smoke to quit is one of the biggest bangs for your wellness bucks.
Fitness Works at Work Corporate Health and Fitness News
As we end 2009, we wanted to share some thoughts from participants in the Fitness Works at Work programs which took place over the past year. We always analyze feedback to improve our programs and are delighted when they make a difference in people’s lives. Here are few examples:
Seasonal Survival Holiday Online Program December 2009:
"Thank you for taking the time to do this. I don't know about everyone else, but I enjoyed receiving these e-mail reminders to be good to ourselves, not only during the holidays but during the whole year. Thank you for caring!"
National Grid employee
This has been a great program! Thanks so much for all the information and motivation!"
Haemonetics employee
Monthly Meditation Sessions:
"The in-house, during lunch time, regularly scheduled Monthly Meditation sessions has been one of the most beneficial programs. The presenter's knowledge, program, materials and encouragement are very effective."
Fresenius Medical Care North America employee
Alphabet Soup –26 Weekly Online Nutrition Tips:
"I loved this program! It's the perfect little tip or helpful suggestion or reminder once a week to help keep me on track with my diet and encourage me to make good choices. It's practical, not overbearing. I loved that my inbox didn't get crowded with these emails because they were only once a week. I would love to participate in this program again."
Genzyme employee
Healthy Eating Every Day Behavior Change Program:
"HEED has given me the tools to eat healthy for medical reasons and to lead a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. A few small changes with regular exercise have made huge changes to how I feel and the weight I have lost."
Ocean Spray employee
ActiHealth Lifestyle Program:
"The ActiHealth program was such an informative and motivating process. Tracking my daily activity level with the ActiPed and web tool was a very satisfying way of staying accountable to my exercise goals. Not only did the program help me achieve my weight loss goal, but also changed my nutrition habits so that I feel more satisfied and nourished by the food I eat."
Millennium Pharmaceuticals – A Takeda Company employee
As we head into 2010 we have already planned full calendars of seminars, incentive campaigns, email-based online programs, fitness classes and other health promotion events for our clients. Health promotion and wellness are ongoing campaigns that are necessary to keep the concept of healthy living on employees' radar screens. We commend all of our clients who are committed to a culture of wellness!
CDC's LEAN Works!
"Leading Employees to Activity and Nutrition" is a FREE web-based resource that offers interactive tools and evidence-based resources to design effective worksite obesity prevention and control programs including an obesity cost calculator to estimate how much obesity is costing your company and how much savings your company could reap with different workplace interventions.
Research Findings on Calorie Labeling of Cafeteria Food
A study was conducted by UC Berkeley's Center for Health and Weight looking at how posting calories on menu selections would affect menu choices. "Based on the changes we observed on patron's lunch choices and the frequency with which patrons go to the cafeteria over the course of a week, this kind of intervention could prevent up to five pounds of unwanted weight gain per year, provided people don't compensate by eating more calories at other meals" Karen Webb, co-author of the study as reported in Employee Benefit News October 2009
1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults–United States, 1998. Morbidity and Mortality
Fitness Works at Work, Inc. provides quality on-site fitness, wellness and ergonomic services to corporations and organizations in New England. Contact our office at info@fwaw.com, or call 508-653-4135 for further information.
